Letter of Support

139J Technology Drive Garner, NC 27529 (919) 773-2044

[email protected]

April 19, 2010
The White House
Office of Management & Budget (OMB)
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
RE:

Support for the Public Crime Laboratory Census by the Urban Institute and BJS

To Whom It May Concern:
On behalf of the members and Board of Directors of the American Society of Crime Laboratory
Directors (ASCLD), I am writing in support of the proposed 2009 census of publicly funded
crime laboratories to be supported by the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
The data to be collected through this survey are critical to understanding the current conditions
of the forensic science industry and the areas that are most in need of attention. Previous
censuses conducted in 2002 and 2005 provided invaluable information that was not only useful
to ASCLD’s national initiatives, but to our individual members who frequently used the resulting
data to support actions proposed in their individual laboratories.
The profession of forensic science is largely void of authoritative industry data of the sort that
are collected in the censuses of publicly funded crime laboratories. We applaud the efforts of the
Bureau of Justice Statistics and the Urban Institute and look forward to assisting in this
worthwhile project.
If you have any questions or wish to contact me for any reason, please feel free to call my office
at (866) 677-7160 or by email at [email protected].
Thank you for your consideration and interest in the forensic science community.
Sincerely,

John M. Collins
Executive Director
C:

Beth Greene
ASCLD President